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Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ten Things I Hate About Sewing

So, we often talk about why we love sewing. But let's have a break from all that positivity and sunshine and get negative for a minute. So here's my list. Top ten things I hate about sewing!

1. Lining things. Making linings is boring, let's face it. No one will ever see it, the materials are slippery and hard to work with, and it's just a big, boring hurdle to face before you can put on your lovely finished product.

3. Constant scheming and obsessing. I have an obsessive mind, so I pretty much think about sewing in all my free (and not free) time. My internal monologue can start to sound like a broken record, which is really annoying.4. Pins. Why do they end up everywhere except in my pin cushion?

5. Ironing. Self-explanatory. Ironing is boring.

6. Hemming. Hemming is a constant source of anxiety for me. I'm always worried about how it's going to turn out: will it be straight, will it be invisible? Arrrgggh.

7. Sewing brings out my indecisiveness. Which pattern? Which fabric? I don't know! Let's obsess about it for days on end! (See number 3: constant scheming and obsessing.)

71 comments:

Augh when you go to sew the smallest thing and your sewing machine gets jammed and you spend twice as much time on the project because you can't figure out whats wrong with the machine! And then you run out of bobbin thread with two more inches to go!

i second everything! besides buying a serger to address the seam allowances peeve, does anyone have tips/tricks to make any of these things go faster? More efficiently? i think i read a sewist say she does the linings first to get it out of the way and deal with fit issues, then does the fashion fabric. anybody tried this?

I love sewing but hate all the preliminaries. The cutting and matching up of pattern pieces is so tedious. But that's assuming I've managed to get beyond nº7.

Indecisiveness. I can waste hours staring at my patterns, wondering which fabric to use with what. I pull them all out, and might have the perfect pattern and fabric, but not the right length... Once they're all out, I start panicking that I've got too many patterns and acres of fabric and not enough lifetimes to use them all up in... Then I have to tidy them away again before I can begin to sew - only to discover there is no time left.

But I do enjoy ironing my seams as I go along and I love bias taping my hems. Hand sewing invisible hems, not so much though...

When the test buttonhole works great on scraps, then goes really wrong on the actual garment with the exact same settings, not minutes after the test!Actually, just buttonholes in general. Too much room for permanent error after all the rest of the work is done.

When the machine suddenly decides it doesn't want to work anymore. Love that. When you get to the end of a long seam (probably a sort of difficult one like easing in a sleeve or something) and then you realize that your bobbin thread has made a huge mess on the back.

Not having a good space. I sew in my kitchen, and have to haul out everything and then put everything away at the end. I yearn for a dedicated space with a cutting table at the right height, and serious storage solutions.

Most of all I hate it when I think I'm being so clever and smart by straying away from directions or suggestions, only to realize too late that I should have heeded them.

But I loooove handsewing! Keep your thread length under 18" and you should have less tangles. When I worked in a costume shop, they purchased pre-cut, waxed thread for handsewing and it was pure joy to work with. You can do the same thing with beeswax (iron the thread after running it through the wax so it will absorb), though I never ever do this.

I know just what you mean with most of these. Except for the hand sewing. I love hand sewing.Mostly because it's getting rather nippy here, and I can curl up on the couch or in bed with my project and work on it there.

Tracing the pattern, cutting it out, laying out the fabric, and then cutting out the fabric are the steps I hate. All that preliminary work seems to take an inordinately long time compared to my sewing time. Especially on some items that sew together in no time. Like the knit shirts I have made recently. I also hate it when I run out of thread. And yes, I have run out of BLACK thread before. I live in a town where NO store sells thread. I thought surely one of the five dollars stores would surely have some sort of thread, but NO. Or, the hardware store in town -- it sells EVERYTHING ELSE, including things like coffee pots, toys, and cleaning supplies. A place with all that stuff surely has a few spools of thread around, BUT NO!!! I had to drive 20 minutes to a quilt shop to buy a small spool of black thread because they really don't sell thread either!!I hate it when the serger decides not to cooperate and I must rethread it. It has to be done in a certain order - OR ELSE!I hate it when the bobbin thread runs out. Like Catherine said, it always runs out an inch or so before I am finished with the seam. SO frustrating.I hate it when I have to put away my sewing table so the family room looks presentable for company!!Oh, my list could go on and on and on!!I LOVE this topic, though!!!!!!Okay, let me add one more. I hate it when it is pouring down rain outside and I can't sew because I need to make sure my sons stay out of the way of the guy servicing our heat pump!!!!!!! I mean, this is the PERFECT weather to sit at the machine and just get lost in sewing!

I am 42 and have been sewing since I was 10. I am at the point in my life now where I enjoy every bit of the sewing process. I love hand sewing, cutting out fabric and yes even putting in a lining. I believe I hand baste more now than in the 32 years I've been sewing. I used to rush through a lot of projects because I was excited see them finished and to get started on the next. This is also the first time in my life that I am sewing for myself. No more kids clothing for me. Now I truly savor every moment while making a garment I know I will have forever. I will say this.I HATE TRYING TO THREAD MY SERGER (Sergio can be a pain in the a** sometimes)

I wish I could skip making so many adjustments to the paper pattern: add length to both torso and skirt; different sizes for narrow back + barrel chest; FBA, swayback, etc., the list seems endless.

I used to hate ironing, but I finally got smart and bought a very pricey TFal iron and am amazed at what a difference it makes. Now I don't mind ironing at all, except on hot days.

I loathe sewing on hooks and eyes, and wish an elf would do that step for me. Mine always come out wonky after much fumbling in the couch cushions to find the tiny pieces I've dropped. Muttering and swearing is usually involved.

I hate that I don't have enough room. I also tend to lose heart towards the end of a project. But I like hand-sewing a lot and (crazily) I like washing and ironing fabrics.

My tips:

1) a friend lent me her steam generating iron and has now accepted that she will NEVER get it back. Buy one. I know they are expensive (although this wasn't particularly) -- but they are WORTH IT. I wish I could demo mine because you would be instantly sold.

2) Buy special basting thread for hand basting. Such a useful thing. It's weaker than sewing thread and easy to pull out. Use tweezers for errant bits.

3) Buy beeswax and wax any sewing thread you use for proper hand sewing, like slipstitching etc. I never iron mine, that seems unnecessary.

4) Always use a thimble when hand sewing. I like both the quilters leather thimbles and metal thimbles equally. Wear it on the 3rd finger of the working hand, and use it to push the needle through. I say this because I wasn't really sure when I started to use a thimble.

Is this too many tips? I used to hate marking. But the thing I hate THE MOST is ripping out. Hand-basting, basting for fit, and good marking mean that I very very very rarely need to rip out any more. And I love that. And also I'm no longer anxious about setting in sleeves, gathers, etc, since I hand-baste all those tricky seams before I sew them. To you nay-sayers out there: it saves time in the end.

I hate having to rip out stitches when I've made a mistake. I hate it when I don't understand the instruction sheet and can't figure out for the life of me what I'm supposed to do. I'm not real fond of hand sewing. I hate fitting and adjusting. Still trying to learn how to do that. And most of all, No. 3., I can't get it off of my mind, ever! I feel like I am obessesed. I also feel like I will never get to all of the projects that I have in my mind that I want to do. I can envision myself twirling around in a new fabulous dress I've made; but quite honestly don't really know if and when I'll get to make that dress, or any number of projects for that matter.

But I love that feeling when I'm finally sitting at my machine and whipping out a mastserpiece and everything is moving along smoothly. Oops. Sorry. I was positive there at the end.

I started sewing when I was a kid, but haven't done any sewing in a long time, other than minor stuff like shortening a hem or taking something in. The reason is (and this is what I hate about sewing!) that I don't know how to fit a pattern. I've wasted lots of money and time on garments only to have them look awful, so I gave up.

I still enjoy reading your blog, though! It's almost making me want to try sewing again.

One word- ZIPPERS! The only time I have ever put in a zipper perfectly is by hand. Which is really fun and looks great by the way. But I feel I need to put in a zipper by machine for my customers because I am not sure how 'tough' they are going to be on that dress. For myself, it's a no brainer.

I definitely hate transferring all the markings from the pattern. It seems to take FOREVER when all I want to do it sew. I am a fan of hand sewing though. I had a lemon of a machine that I got in junior high for Christmas--the thing barely sewed a straight stitch...my experience with it was so bad that I swore off sewing with a machine and sewed anything I needed to by hand. It wasn't until I got married and hand sewed like 5 yards of fabric into curtains by hand with barely a proper straight edge that I decided I needed a machine. :)

I LOATHE lining material. And curved seams on chiffon. I actually kind of like ironing...is that really weird? As for tangling hand thread, do you wax before you sew? I used to abhore hand sewing for just that reason but now I wax my thread well and then iron it to set the wax before sewing and usually have no problems. Now I just find hand sewing rather dull.

With so many what-I-hate-about-sewing points it's amazing that we all still sew!!!

What I defintely hate the most is when a garment doesn't turn out the way I want it to - mostly due to fitting issues. I'm obsessive-compulsive when it comes to fit and sometimes when I've finished sewing a garment it's best for me to put it away in my closet for a while and only take it out again when I'm so obsessed with the next project that I've completely forgotten about all the issues I had with the previous garment. Isn't that a bit crazy?

Lining garments is not the most interesting part of a project either but I've learned to love doing it by choosing lining material that makes sewing lining more fun. I like to choose very beautiful, special lining or a color that is completely different to the fabric I'm using. This way sewing lining is somewhat more fun because you can invest your creative energies in it and it's not just something that has to be done.

Cutting and marking is a bit boring too. But for all you anti-marking ppl out there, I found this link on Casey's blog the other day, which has a video on how to sew a dart without marking it at all. I'm determined to try this method next time I have to sew a dart.

I hate making muslins! I've learned to appreciate basting, although I can't say I love it. I've gotten used to tracing off patterns. But, as much as I hate making muslins, there is another thing I hate more. I hate when something I sew doesn't fit and I could have fixed it if only I'd made a muslin.

I hate projects that just don't work the way I imagined them - either the fit is wrong, the fabric won't sit right (too stiff, too droopy), or it just doesn't suit me. And I hate discovering this when a garment is nearly finished, because then it puts me off finishing it, and that not-quite-finished project in turn puts me off sewing for months.

I hate not having a fabric store nearby.I hate not having a cat or a puppy to lay on my fabric when I'm on the floor cutting it out.I hate having to work in a carpeted area (my new place is mostly carpet-free!).I hate how going to a fabric store is now rushed, because I'm dragging along a collection of people who would really rather be elsewhere, because we've made it an Expedition to the Big City.I hate how all of a sudden I have to look at the patterns with all those big numbers, because I have accumulated more than wisdom.I hate having to work for a living, instead of messing around with projects.

I hate the pins that are all over the house, much less my sewing room. I hate all those that have to be trimmed no matter how many times I think that I've cut them all. I hate that I am always obsessing about what I am going to make next to the point of making the same lists over and over again.

No, no lining is the best bit. You can make it pretty, or silly and it is your secret, and hand sewing has a certain appeal. Mysterious and unexplicable machine changes, like the rotten thing suddenly deciding to loosen the tension, that is something to hate about sewing.

Fitting issues due to the fact that I have super long arms and legs and at the same time I'm short-waisted. Also, I don't really know how to properly adjust for a full bust (except trial and mostly error). So this is why I hate the thing I do when it comes to sewing: Get all excited about a pattern or fabric and then let it all sit, unmade, for a couple seasons or years, until everything goes out of style. I hate when I do that!

I realized today that all the sewing prep work (patterns, pressing, basting, pressing some more, etc, etc, etc) reminded me of the prep work you have to do before painting walls (spackling, sanding, tack cloth, TAPING OFF, priming). The actual sewing (and painting) go so much quicker and are so much more enjoyable!!

Also I second: HATE IT when you discover that the bobbin thread has gotten all funglified underneath.

The longer I've been sewing the more I like pretty much every part of sewing. However my all-time anti-favorites are A. cleaning up / dusting / vaccuuming (Ugh. My husband often does it FOR me, how very sweet!) and B. re-folding and putting away extra yardage. BORRRING!

Vis-a-vis tangled handsewing. I want to echo what a few have said - wax, then iron your thread before handsewing. I have found I can do long lengths of thread (I tie invisible knots every few inches when I handsew, often). It does make a difference to iron it - it sets the wax in and makes the thread stronger (a tip I learned in a class from Susan Khalje).

pinning. I hate pinning. I wish I could skip that step completely. Of course, I did just hem a dress with a gauzy synthetic georgette overlay. one pin every half inch. My finger looked like I had run it through a microplane grater.

And then taking the pins out as you sew...'cause if you don't, your seam gets all wonky and the pins get bent and you break needles

Booooo.

Don't get me started on stepping on pins. Like, when you're trying on pants that are pinned up because they're too long and then you step on a pin and your partner has to pull it out with a pair of pliers...

Ease on sleeves! They ALWAYS end up puckered and horrible. I don't understand the point to it either, so it is really frustrating.

Gathering because I always do it too roughly and break the thread...

Not having enough thread or fabric! This is due mostly to my own stupidity, however ^^ ;;

Worst of all - UNPICKING *rages* I can't stand it! I seem to have really poor spatial intelligence as I am ALWAYS sewing things back to front. Argh. When you have unpicked the same side for the third time today, a -little- bit of the joy leaves, I have to say.

I really hate the anxiety I feel at the thought of working out what changes I've got to make to a pattern to make it fit. I've got a couple of books on the subject, but I just hate it. Associated with that, the disappointment I feel when I sew up a garment and it doesn't fit.Even when I was slimmer in my younger days, the patterns still didn't fit.Woe is me. What is to be done? Can someone explain to me what they do with all the muslins they make up? Towards the end of my last sewing stint (teens to late 20s), I found I had a veritable wardrobe of calico (ie unbleached cream coloured) clothes. Not useful. And "wearable muslin"? Who can afford to buy fabric just to try out a pattern?Sigh.I like ironing, I'm trying ot learn to love marking my pattern (tailors tacks - can you do a post on them please?). I love using my Mum's old Singer sewing machine from 1958. My 26 year old Elna (from my first job as 14 year old) won't do stitches wide enough to gather.

i love ironing (my freshly sewn stuff, not my washed clothes ^^)i hate that i run out of thread always on the last few cm i have to sewand i hate that everytime i think "well, that last step shouldn't take too long" i mess something up.

I hate making buttonholes! Which is bad because I love buttons. It seems like we should pair up with someone who likes the things we hate. Hmm...I like pressing and cutting out the patterns. Anyone want to be my pinner and baster?

Actually, I don't mind handsewing (even after doing 5 months of nothing else a little while ago). I find ironing very satisfying. I enjoy playing with fabrics and patterns to make matches - though I do suffer from indecision too. Linings are a bit tedious, but usually save me from having to do much seam allowance finishing. When not lining, I usually just do french seams, so I actually don't remember the last time I even used my serger.

I have a decent space for cutting, so that doesn't bother me either. What I really hate is *marking*. I don't really know why, but I detest it!

Oh yeah, and running out of thread just before you're about to backstitch makes me have to count to 10 too.

I too hate linings and finishing seams, but what I disdain most is catching fabric in the seam that is not supposed to be in it, like when sewing gathered pieces. Oh yeah and cutting out patterns. I would pay someone to cut out patterns seriously!

Oh, so nice to unload the peeves! I hate cutting. No matter how anal I get with assorted pattern weights & pins I am still absolutely gifted in screwing up the cutting part, shifting edges, grain, or both, cutting outside the lines, etc. It's really kind of a paranormal talent in complete defiance of physics, given all the safeguards I put in place. Particularly frustrating after making all sorts of little fraction of inch adjustments here & there to the pattern, painstakingly tracing up new patterns, then boneheaded cutting I have to make allowances for when sewing. OR after making those painstaking adjustments, realizing I made the most basic fraction error at the start and have to do it all over again. Yeah, it's annoying when adjustments don't work out as expected, but there's some enjoyment in the problem-solving & (hopefully) overcoming. It's that sheer user-error stuff that really gets my goat- there's no fun (or even just learning/experience) in the correction.

I am in the camp of those who hate the preliminary work (pattern cutting, fabric cutting ...)

However, I realised during my sewing workshop (which takes place in big rooms, with huge dedicated tables, and a lot of light), that I hate this part mostly because my flat don't have enough room and enough light to do it properly. Fabrics are always slipping from the small table, it's tricky to fold them properly, etc... When I can put the fabric cleanly on a big table, with plenty of light that comes just right so I can see what I'm doing, it's not half as bad.

Zippers are a nigthmare, too, but it's sewing nonetheless, so I don't really dislike them.

I don't mind hand basting, as it's a compulsory step for me, except for the most straightforward seams (and still ...).

Now, as I'm only a beginner, what dishearten me most is feeling so miserable when I see all the great projects out there, in real life or through the Internet. But I love seeing them and reading about them, so I try to keep the faith that, one day, I may become as talented as you all are !

First, it's the thought of dealing with sleeves (easing)...Second it's not having a proper place to store all of my things so that I may sew comfortably...fourth, marking because I just want to quickly get to the sewing part and fourth, me hating myself for becoming impatient with my 5 year old grand-daughter whom I'm teaching to sew when she becomes overly excited and off-task during a lesson and doesn't follow along properly...she's a doll though, and just as quickly I remind myself, in anycase, she's doing a wonderful job.

Hear, hear! I cannot agree more about your gripe about scraps, lining and indecisiveness. ;) The latter has gotten me into a schedule pinch more than once: taking forever to make critical decisions on pattern, fabric, etc., and waiting until the last minute before I need a dress for a certain event! Case in point: I just ordered some fabric for some cool weather clothes for a trip we're taking. Problem is, by the time the fabric gets here, I'll be lucky if I've got a little more than a couple weeks to sew things! But I've been hemming and hawing over fabric for weeks. Craziness, I tell you!

I think the other thing I hate about sewing is the mess is generates in general. The threads that somehow end up outside the wastebasket (and tracked all over the house), the scissors I can never find (and always end up on my ironing board), the pattern envelopes that litter the floor... I try and organize and cleanup as I go, but it never quite works. haha!

My main problem is fitting. When I think I finally have it right, it never is. I also hate ripping out seams. These two things go together, especially when I realize that I will need to adjust something several seams back. I think all of this comes from my inexperience, which leads me to the next thing I hate about sewing - the lack of classes in my area!

You've read my mind... I would say exactly like you. Add to that obsessive buying of fabric and patterns, but not necessarily to fit together...so I feel like sewing a pattern, but I don't have the perfect fabric for it, then I have this fabric, but no pattern that goes well with it...I told myself to bring down my stash of fabric to nothing...then start over, I mean bring the pattern I want to do and buy fabric for it, then do the project...I'm so overwhelm right now with all the fabric and pattern...

I do like almost every aspect of sewing. I suppose cutting out is not my favorite, but I definitely don't hate it. What I hate is getting pulled threads on charmeuse fabrics, even when you use brand new very fine needles. Gathering is something I don't like to do, as is sewing with black fabrics. You can't see it very well, especially at night, and I get bored really quick with looking at it. I hate wadders and the waste of time and money they create.

When I cut a pattern exactly to fit with the minimum of ease, the finished garment looks perfect on me, and three days later it's dangling four inches below the waistline (giving me the dreaded muffin top) because the fabric stretches with wear!

After I built my own cutting-table, thats one issue that doesn't bother me anymore. Facts that bother me -in general- are:

- Copying Like.. after you cut out the pattern, you have to get the lines onto the other part... it's just so.. time consuming..

- i think, hemming. but not sure. A serger would make a huuuuge difference for real.

- lining I think thats the part that most frustrates me... especially if you work with really thin, slippery material.

and then... last but definitely not least:- the muslinAnd even more, if it not fits.Making the alterations, marking the muslin, tearing it apart and then transferring it onto the pattern... this can take ages.... T_T

on the contrary i cant agree to the hand-sewing part. Hint for avoiding thread tangling and knots:Just take the threaded needle between your fingers, as you would if you want to start hand-sewing. Then pull the needle through the same thread witch is in the needle - maybe 15 cm lower than the eye. Repeat that approx. every 15-20cm

Do that before you start sewing, and you'll have no problem with the knots!

If your hand sewing the best way to ensure that your thread doesn't knot is but making sure that you are sewing it in the right direction. Thread has a grain just like fabric and a good way to tell what end of the thread your needle should be on is by running your fingers along the length both ways. One direction will feel more rough to the touch than the other, and you should sew so that the thread is being pulled the the smoother direction. Hope this helps some of you hand sewers out there!